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Police Search For Marathon Bomber, The Other Is Dead

Originally published on Fri April 19, 2013 1:32 pm

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

On a Friday morning it's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep. And, David, I guess we cannot say enough this morning that everything we're telling you about unfolding events in Boston is provisional. Anything could change. The information we're getting is changing all the time.

GREENE: Yeah, seriously, Steve. And this has been one astonishing week. It was an astonishing week even before the dramatic last eight hours in Boston and around Boston. And let's tell everyone where we are now. Police say one suspect in Monday's Boston Marathon bombing is dead this morning. The second suspect is believed to be at large in the Boston suburb of Watertown. And this follows a night in which a police officer was killed, another wounded in a car chase, and a shootout took place.

INSKEEP: Our colleague Dina Temple-Raston describes about half a dozen different crime scenes across the Boston metropolitan area. And we're joined, now, by NPR's Jeff Brady and reporter Fred Bever of member station WBUR. They're in Watertown. And, Fred, let's start with you. What have you seen overnight?

FRED BEVER, BYLINE: Well, let me talk right now about what I'm seeing right now. There is a building not far from where the first suspect was killed, or shot and injured enough to die later. Police are entering this building with shotguns drawn. They have bomb sniffing dogs. They very quickly put up a perimeter - this all developed in the last 12 minutes. There are other scenes going on around the city. If you listen to the scanners, police are being called here and there and other places.

But right now there is a developing situation which hopefully will clear peacefully.

INSKEEP: Fred Bever, I want to understand what you're seeing there as best you understand it. You're describing police entering a building with shotguns drawn and in the last few minutes you said they set up a perimeter around that building. We did hear the police might be going door to door. So is it your sense that they think there is someone of interest in there? Or that they are simply searching house to house to house?

BEVER: This is more intense than the house to house search has been. They are very alert and attentive. They've pushed bystanders and the press away. And they're trying to figure out what's going on. There's something that has their attention in here. No word on what it is.

GREENE: And Fred Bever, keep telling us what you're seeing. How many police are there and, I mean, are they - they seem like they're trying to enter the building right now or standing outside?

BEVER: They're - we saw a few go in about 10 minutes ago, a mix of state and local police. And the presence has been growing. They just brought in several dogs, bomb sniffing dogs, presumably. And that is the thing right here. There are probably 10 to 12 police standing, looking up at the building, inspecting the grounds around it. I don't know how many may be inside it. It's quiet.

INSKEEP: And, Fred, stay with us. Interrupt, in fact, if something else happens in front of you. But Jeff Brady, NPR's Jeff Brady, is also part of this conversation. And Jeff, would you just remind us who it is that police are looking for? We have a dead suspect, a live suspect. Who are they?

JEFF BRADY, BYLINE: Right. We saw all those - we saw those pictures yesterday. Remember, there was one person with a dark cap on and there was one person with a white ball cap on backwards. That second person, the one with the white cap, is the one they're looking for now and they're telling people who live in the Watertown area and surrounding to stay in their home.

If you have a business, don't open your business today. Governor Deval Patrick in Massachusetts has shut down the MBPA. That's the public transit service. That's a big deal in a town like Boston on a workday morning. This town is stalled this morning.

GREENE: And Jeff Brady, based on what we just heard from Fred Bever and what you've been hearing from police, can you make more sense of what Fred is seeing there at this building?

BRADY: Well, certainly with just the warnings that we're hearing from police that people need to stay in their homes. They're very serious. They said take - if anyone comes to your door and knocks and they're not a police officer, call 911 immediately.

INSKEEP: And Fred - and let me just interrupt you. We've got a few seconds left here. Fred Bever, would you give us an update on what you're seeing at that building in Watertown where you've described police going in and searching the building?

BEVER: It's a brick building. The police are on all four sides of it. It's four stories tall. And this may be a scene that is playing out in other parts of the city or will play out, as they exercise utmost caution when they suspect anything as they have been all night. It's a tense time here in Watertown.

INSKEEP: OK. Fred, thanks very much. That's Fred Bever of WBUR. He'll continue to give us more updates as he learns more. And also NPR's Jeff Brady. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.